-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Things are looking horrible for President Barack Obama . There 's the Obamacare website fiasco . Ongoing allegations of National Security Agency spying on European leaders . There was the government shutdown that damaged the economy on his watch . And a new poll released this week finds Obama with his lowest approval rating -- and his highest disapproval rating -- ever .

If this were a movie , we would be at the part where the hero finds himself surrounded . He has no escape routes and he 's outgunned . What will happen next : Will our hero prevail like John McClane in `` Die Hard , '' or will he fail like William Wallace in `` Braveheart '' ?

Well , the good news for Obama is that the script for the final scenes of his presidency has not been written yet . The bad news is that he may not be the one writing it .

Simply put : Obama is not the protagonist driving his own story . Rather , his storyline is being dictated by others . No question , he has long had trouble controlling the narrative , with a GOP bent on denying him , basically , everything he wants . But now he 's heading toward the end of his final term -- and the clock is ticking on his agenda .

Obama 's main antagonist , of course , is the hyper-partisan Congress that refuses to agree on the most basic issues , such as raising the debt ceiling , which Congress has done more than 40 times since 1980 . And unless something changes , it 's looking bad for immigration reform , universal background checks for gun purchases , income tax reform or any of the other proposals he outlined in his State of the Union nine months ago .

Perhaps the worst thing about the problems with the Obamacare website is that they occurred at a time when things were finally looking politically brighter for Obama . Though the government shutdown had been an unwelcome setback , polls showed after it ended that Americans blamed the Republicans in Congress for it much more than they blamed him . It looked as if Obama had righted his ship and would be able to refocus Americans on his priorities .

It was as if Obama had become George Clooney as the captain of the fishing boat in `` The Perfect Storm . '' The rain has stopped , the ocean is turning calm and there is even a glimmer of sunlight ; he 's beaten the storm . But then moments later , the sky darkens and there is a deluge of rain . The choppy waters -LRB- in this case , the Obamacare website debacle -RRB- soon consume the ship .

Is this Obama 's metaphoric fate ? He can accept another plotline -- let 's say of `` Gravity , '' with Obama as a character like Sandra Bullock 's , hit with one harrowing challenge after another . This may be exciting to watch , but not great for the character , who has no idea what will happen next .

I 'd recommend a different story line . I 'd use the ending of `` Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid '' as inspiration and metaphorically go out with guns blazing . Why not set some lofty goals that will frame the agenda anew going forward ?

First , Obama should announce that retaking control of the House in 2014 is a top priority . Yes , many districts have been gerrymandered to all but ensure re-election for Republican House members . But he should take the fight to his adversaries anyway . Unseating some tea party House members has become newly possible after the shutdown mess . Their approval ratings are just below toe fungus . Can the President maneuver through this new landscape and turn it to his advantage ? Even getting more moderate Republicans into the House could be a step toward sanity . -LRB- Sometimes you have to improvise to make a story line work . -RRB-

Obama should also use executive orders to the extent legally possible to attain his policy objectives . He did this very thing in 2011 when he ordered that many children of parents illegally in the United States would no longer be deported .

Sure , the Republicans will push back -- they will say Obama is behaving like a `` king '' or `` tyrant '' and complain about him nightly on Fox News . But the upside is that the debate will be about the issues the President has chosen .

It 's denouement time for Obama as we enter the final act of his presidency . Will the President 's agenda continue to be dictated by others , making him nothing more than a lame duck , caretaker President ? Or will he use every means at his discretion to write his own story ?

Obama is the star of this movie . The only question is : How is it going to end ?

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Dean Obeidallah .

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Dean Obeidallah : Obama in a tough stretch , facing policy debacles , low poll numbers

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If it were a movie , his character would be surrounded -- but he can change outcome , he says

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He says he must aggressively press agenda and also aim for Democrats to retake House

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Obeidallah : GOP dictating narrative , but he must take control before term runs out